Food Delicious Vegetarian Cooking

^ That looks fantastic. Now I'm dying for some curry! Though I have coconut oil that I'd use instead of canola.

 

It was amazing. I want to pick up more yellow curry paste (we were out) and try a different veggie combo next time.

 

If I'd had chickpeas cooked up, I would have thrown them in. Tofu would also work well as a protein here. With the minimal amount of coconut milk, it kind of ended up being like a curry risotto. Really delicious.

 

A soup I made today:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 large leek, cut into quarters and chopped
2 carrots, large dice
2 cups or so mushrooms, sliced
1 cup hulled (NOT pearled) barley
1 cup lentils, rinsed and sorted (I used unhulled red lentils, any lentil will work, depending on what kind of texture you desire
2 tbsp. soy sauce (or more to taste)
black pepper
water (how much will depend on how thick or thin you want the soup)

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the leek to the hot oil; cook until softened. Add the carrots, cook a minute or two, stirring, before adding the mushrooms. Cook the mixture until the mushrooms begin to give up their liquid. Add the barley and lentils. Stir. Add enough water to cover everything and turn up the heat to medium-high; be aware that the barley and lentils will soak up a good portion of the water. Add the soy sauce and black pepper. When the soup reaches the boil, turn down the heat to low. Let the soup simmer for approximately half an hour, until the barley and lentils are cooked through; check the water level every so often to ensure the soup is the thickness or thinness you desire. Adjust seasoning; serve.

My soup turned out relatively thick, as that is how I wanted it, and the lentil you choose to use will have an impact on how the final product turns out, as some lentils stay together well and some fall apart.

 

Kale chips!

I keep seeing these in health food stores, but they're always so overpriced. Here is a quick and easy recipe for a snack made from a green superfood:

Crunchy kale chips recipe (i.e. how to eat a bucket of kale per day) | The Food Blog

These are so delicious. I want to make them again already! I made my first batch using seasoning salt, mainly because I was lazy. But next time I want less salt (and MSG!) and more spice. I will try using paprika/cayenne. I'll want to try using curry powder as well, and maybe basil/oregano.

So many options!

 

This is funny--I have a bunch of kale sitting out on my counter waiting to be made into kale chips. I found it while cleaning out my fridge earlier today; it's a little wilty so I figured chips would be a good option. I came up here to take a rest break and now I see I wasn't the only one with this idea today

 

From Vegetarian Times this month:

This was so good. I am going to use this marmalade sauce in future more general stir-fries. I wish I had more to eat. I imagine it would go well with green beans, peas, carrots, onions--whatever you fancy putting in a stir-fry.

 

Snowy's Lazy Man's Mock Risotto:

olive oil (enough to coat the pan well)
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more, to taste)
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup or so orzo
1/4 cup white wine (I used an Italian white: Ippolito Res Dei Ciro Bianco)
Broth or water, enough to cover the vegetables and pasta well
salt and pepper to taste
Nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese, about a tablespoon
juice of half a lemon to finish

Saute the onion and mushroom together over medium-high heat until the onion is soft and the mushroom has given up its liquid and is starting to dry up. Turn down the heat to medium-low and add the garlic. Add the thyme and stir. Mix in the soy sauce. Scoot the vegetables over to one side; if there isn't enough oil in the pan where you've cleared, add a bit more. Add the orzo to the spot cleared in the pan. Stir the orzo until it is slightly toasted and well coated with oil. Add 1/4 cup of white wine and incorporate well; the orzo will begin to give off its starch. Once the wine is absorbed, add enough water to cover the orzo well. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally. After the orzo is cooked to al dente, turn off the heat, add the salt, pepper, nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Stir, and adjust the seasoning.

 

Warm Orzo Pesto Salad

For the pesto:
1 cup arugula
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 tbsp cilantro
1/4 cup almonds
several cloves of garlic (to taste)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
salt and pepper

Process ingredients together in a food processor until they make a smooth paste.

1/2 package orzo
1-2 small zucchini or summer squash, diced
1 large heirloom tomato, diced

Cook 1/2 package orzo according to directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water. In a glass bowl, combine orzo and 4-5 tbsp. of the pesto, adding more to taste. Add pasta water to the orzo/pesto as needed to loosen the sauce. Add the diced zucchini and tomato and mix well. Let the salad sit until room temperature, letting the flavors meld. Adjust the seasoning.

 

Mashed Cauliflower with Pesto

(see above recipe for pesto)

1 head cauliflower, chopped
1-2 tbsp. pesto
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1-2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower until fork tender. Combine steamed cauliflower, pesto, nutritional yeast, and garlic in the workbowl of a food processor. Pulse until everything is evenly distributed and mixture is smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Season to taste.

 

I love, love, love mashed cauliflower. Soooo goood. And Mexican lasagna. I haven't made that in a long time. We used to have it once every couple months, if not more often.

 

Here's a cold Asian noodle salad, roughly based on one Magpie linked the recipe to.

1/2 pack brown rice pad thai noodles, softened and cut into smaller pieces
1 zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 red pepper, cut into matchsticks
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/4 c (loosely) fresh basil, in a chiffonade
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 baby bok choy, roughly chopped
1-2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Toss together all ingredients in a large bowl. The slight heat of the noodles will wilt the bok choy a bit. Serve room temperature or chill to your preference.

A picture: